


kneel before my throne

by Kyhariel



Series: a monument/your requiem/my throne [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Finally, Hanahaki Disease, Happy Ending, Other, This is it folks, canon was treated with a hammer and the best bits were saved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 23:06:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15673119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyhariel/pseuds/Kyhariel
Summary: Leo makes the worst decisions yet, but somehow, somewhere it works out.





	kneel before my throne

**Author's Note:**

> ngl, basically anything should not work that way, but just roll with it. this is just the disclaimer so you don't come at me about inaccuracies.

They were in the tower when the Red Legion attacked.

It was not a surprise, they rarely even went down into the city anymore, as they felt like more flowers and roots than actual guardian.

Nevertheless, they picked up their pet project from the last few months, an imitation of Toland’s Bad Juju (fashioned after the fragments of plans from his journal and whatever they remembered from the original plans he had drafted up) and the sword they made from the piece of Oryx’ Willbreaker that Eris Morn had gotten them.

And, apparently they were the last guardian the city could spare, as they were sent up to the cabal flagship to take down it’s shields.

That did not go well.

Okay, they couldn’t expect anything from a guardian that was actively dying, but they did manage to take down the shields. That they lost contact to basically everyone wasn’t their fault.

They made their way up to the deck of the ship where they met Ghaul.

And if that wasn’t enough, Ghaul took their light and they almost immediately started to choke, really choke on their own blood and flowers. They vomited up as much as they could before Ghaul’s feet.

“Disgusting.”, he said, before kicking Leo off his ship.

 

They awoke with a start, laying among the rubble and ruin of the Last City.

Fire was crackling in the distance and they could hear heavy footfalls in sync with another getting quieter, walking away from where they lay.

Smoke hung heavy in the air.

But, despite that, they found that they could breathe more easily than they had in months.

They slowly reached up to touch their cheek, where the roots had marred their face and only found shallow scars running up their cheek and down towards the rest of their body.

Exactly where the roots had been.

Had this something to do with their lost light? Did the disease really just vanish when it no longer had any light to feed on?

But before they could further think on these questions, they knew they had to get up and flee the city, before the Cabal could find them.

That was easier said than done though, as their entire body protested at the notion of standing up. As it turned out, being punted from a flying ship did have it’s consequences.

Nevertheless, through their sheer will – if they had made it that far, they could go on – they managed to get up and began to make their way out and away from the fallen Last City.

 

Finding their ghost was a stroke of luck they hadn’t expected at all.

(The ghost kept a promise it had made a little ball of light not to tell of how it had lead the ghost to Leo.)

And, even luckier, their ghost could at least still heal them. They realized, despite the city crumbling around them, their body hadn’t felt this good in literal months, the flowers having wrecked much more havoc than they had thought.

Together with their ghost, Leo made their way out into the wilderness past the city walls.

 

Once at the farm, they asked Lord Shaxx to craft them a new blade, should he have time or the need to take his mind off things.

They had recovered the shard of Willbreaker, but the blade part had broken.

After that, they set out towards the shard of the Traveler, despite the warnings they received from Hawthorne.

They had seen it in their vision. Their whole way after the fall of the city had led them to this point.

As hoped, once at the shard, they gained their light back and it manifested in a blade of pure solar flame.

The disease did not return with their light.

When they returned to the farm, Shaxx had a simple, but sturdy and above all, sharp blade ready for them, the shard of Willbreaker set above the hilt.

They were resplendent and drunk on their newly regained light and they picked up their new sword and embraced their new powers.

 

It then, truly, started in the mines they needed to traverse to get to Hawthorne.

Leo carved their way through them, through anything that stood in their way. They felt every kill and every kill gave them strength they needed to continue.

 

It did not get better on Titan. If anything, it got so much worse for Leo.

Zavala stopped them, after they had killed enough enemies for the remaining guardians to set up shop. Leo had left a trail of carnage behind them.

“Are you alright, Leonidas?”, he asked, looking Leo straight in the eyes.

“I am.”, Leo said. “I will do whatever it takes to bring Ghaul to justice.” (And if, just if, their blade quivered just the tiniest amount at the resolve in their words, they did not notice.)

“Very well. Continue. Much remains to be done.”, Zavala said and left Leo to their bloody path through the arcology.

By the time they considered moving on, the remaining Fallen had fled back onto their ketch and the Hive had been driven back down into the deepest levels of the arcology.

 

Of course, it did not become better on Nessus.

They were barely even interested in whatever mess Cayde-6 had gotten himself caught up in, they were mostly just interested in how it could get them closer to Ghaul and closer to killing him.

During their “rescue mission”, they went out of their way to kill as many Vex and Fallen as they could. They could’ve sworn their blade was getting sharper ever so slightly with every single kill.

Cayde almost shot them when they did, at last, find him with the Failsafe’s core.

“Shit, Leo, you scared me half to death here.”, he said.

They had sheathed their weapons by now and were not looking scary at all, they thought.

“Something wrong?”, Cayde asked.

Leo shook their head, “No, everything’s as good as it can be.”

“Just checking. You seem a little bit angry.”, he explained.

“Why shouldn’t I be.”, they muttered to themselves as they were already heading out to Nessus again.

They spent some more time on Nessus, telling themselves that they were just cleaning up, so that Failsafe was safe.

Had they stopped a moment to think about it, they would have realized that it was no more than a flimsy excuse.

 

Finding Ikora on Io turned out to be much easier than dealing with either Zavala’s or Cayde’s problems.

Well, Leonidas still cut a bloody swath through Io before joining her, but that was to be expected at this point.

She was staring out to the last point the Traveler touched before it came back to the Earth before the Collapse. As soon as she noticed someone approaching, she had a gun out and pointed at Leo, who pointedly raised their hands, still holding their sword.

“Ikora, please, do you not recognize me? Granted, the roots and flowers are gone, but I haven’t changed that much, have I?”, they asked.

Ikora, still staring at them, took a moment to gather herself before, also, asking: “What happened to you?”

“I can’t recall. I can’t remember anything immediately after Ghaul threw me off his ship. I woke up like this in the ruins of the city.”, Leo said, spreading their arms. Leo was covered in various life-sustaining fluids of various alien races.

“When did you become so cruel?”, Ikora asked after that.

“What do you mean?”, they asked, as oblivious of the state of their clothes as of their sword, covered in dried fallen blood and fresh radiolaria.

“How much did you kill to come here?”, Ikora asked in return.

“Before the war, you would not have questioned that. Tell me what to do.”, Leo asked, ready for whatever would be thrown at them.

 

They cut their way through Io, leaving nothing left alive behind them.

The Taken, though, made them distantly, in the back of their mind. They were aware of what they were doing. That they were carving themselves a place in the very fabric of reality by the death they brought with their own hands.

They knew they were currently imparting the philosophy of the Hive on the world, but by the Traveler and the gods beyond, they were going to kill Ghaul and if they did so purely on the way they were the constant of death, that would be right fine by them.

At least they weren’t a slave to a worm.

 

They kept scarring everything with the trail of death they left.

They hadn’t used their guns at all for three missions now, instead opting to cut and cut and cut everything down.

Aiat.

They were a purpose made real by being.

And their purpose was to kill.

 

Shortly after boarding Ghaul’s ship, dark-light energy began to manifest and break away from them.

It was slowly creeping up their arms, engulfing their sword. Before too long, it looked like the legendary Dreadfang, a sword that was Taken, that they only had heard about in whispers.

Could any other guardian see them, they would recognize what energy seemed to be eating Leonidas up.

They were purpose.

They were the killing blade.

Aiat.

They were the First Navigator.

They were the Slayer of Gods.

They were the Taken King.

Aiat. Aiat.

Aiat.

Ghaul was just another creature facing entropy.

Entropy brought about by Leonidas’ hands and their blade and their being.

 

By the time they had reached the deck, their arms were covered in Taken energy.

Their energy.

They wondered briefly what Toland would say now.

Here they were, taking up the space they had carved with their own hands, first by killing the son and then by killing the father.

Ghaul couldn’t know what was coming for him.

 

The fight against Ghaul did not last long. Even after he artificially infused himself with stolen light.

They had embraced their place and their power, so they simply Took the minions Ghaul summoned to help him.

They murdered Ghaul without the slightest hint of mercy.

As he attempted to Rise himself as a god, they killed him again by Taking his stolen light.

They broke the cage around the Traveler open and were consumed by a flood of blinding light.

 

The woke up in a hospital room.

Given what they remembered, the things they had done while facing Ghaul, they were mildly surprised that they had woken up at all. Or, at the very least, in one of the prison cells they knew existed beneath the towers.

Well, they thought they weren’t detained before they tried to raise their arms.

They were very much chained to their bed.

Well. Still better than expected.

The rush of embracing… what they had, had died off during their – unconsciousness? Sleep? Death?

A warlock that they couldn’t remember ever seeing before the war walked into the room, studying them.

Was Ikora too busy? Were they considered too dangerous for Ikora to see personally? But if they were, why were they in a hospital bed and not imprisoned?

“I’m sure you can imagine why you are here.”, the warlock said.

They tried shrugging, but, alas, they were still chained down, so it did not really work as well as expected.

“You were found on the wreck of Ghaul’s ship, surrounded by Taken. We would like to know how that happened, given that the Taken are usually hostile.”, the warlock explained.

“Oh, yeah, um, wait, is this an interrogation? Why? Didn’t I kill Ghaul? Shouldn’t I be like, celebrated?”, they asked.

The warlock didn’t give a verbal answer, instead opting to pick up a mirror laying on the dresser and showing them their face.

The root scars on their face had changed.

The scars now looked like Taken energy had crawled it’s way up their face, filling the scars.

They figured the rest of their scars probably looked the same.

Maybe they had overdone it a bit fighting Ghaul

A tiny bit.

“Huh.”, they said.

Taking Ghaul’s reinforcements maybe hadn’t been the best idea.

Taking Ghaul maybe hadn’t been the best idea.

Well, embracing their de facto position as the Taken King hadn’t been the best idea. But, hey, it got them through the war and enabled them to well and truly kill Ghaul, even with his artificial abilities.

What would Toland say if he could see them now? They had both done tremendously stupid things.

Maybe he would be proud of them.

(In Oryx’ throne room, after the death of the Taken King, Toland had lamented that they had left without taking up the king’s position. Would he be satisfied now? Maybe Leo could enter the ascendant realm for themselves now, find Toland – or whatever was left of the warlock – and ask him themselves.)

“I don’t know what happened.”, they lied, “I passed out after.. after I disabled the shield around the Traveler. It was so, so bright.” This, at least, wasn’t a lie.

The warlock hummed in affirmation, apparently given what they wanted and left the room again.

Leo passed out shortly after that. There wasn’t much else to do and the Red War had left them bone-deep exhausted. Turns out that asserting your place in reality was incredibly exhausting. No wonder Oryx had to rely on the tithing of his underlings. Leo was really glad they didn’t have a worm to feed.

 

The next time they woke up, they were still very much chained to the bed.

Not that they had expected it to be much different. After all, it was know that the Taken were created by Oryx imparting his will. And how were they being, even partially, Taken with Oryx dead?

Not that they were much inclined to solve the mystery for the Vanguard. They knew, of course, that this wasn’t Oryx’ work. But if the Vanguard figured this out, exile was the best they could hope for.

It, admittedly, took them a while to notice the green specter standing next to their bed. Granted, they had been contemplating their future and how to best escape, truth be told.

“Oh.”, Leo said. “It’s you.”

It was, in fact, the same specter they had encountered on the Dreadnaught. Toland.

“I thought you’d be happier to see me.”, he remarked. He did not say that he was very happy to see them still alive, even if that was what he meant.

“Sure, given that the last time we saw each other you complained that I didn’t want to become a force of darkness and I am currently chained to a bed. Can’t get better circumstances, old man.”, Leo said.

_They awoke, just barely, in the smoking ruins of the city._

“Well, better than the actual last time we saw each other, given that you were choking on flowers back then.”, he retorted.

_A familiar, green specter took up much of their field of vision, though._

“The actual time?”, Leo asked, taken aback.

“You… don’t remember.”, he said, looking down onto the ground, flickering.

He then chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t remember. Of course.”

_They couldn’t breathe, something was stuck in their throat and it wouldn’t come out, no matter how much they coughed, only blood and more blood came out, staining the ground and their face and their clothes._

“I don’t remember what, exactly? Is this your fault?”, they asked, trying to gesture at their scars, but completely forgetting that they were still very much chained to the bed.

“No, even if I could give powers like this, do you really think I would have given them to you? After you so obviously rejected them?”, he asked, staring Leo down.

“ _Don’t die, please.”, the specter whispered in Toland’s voice. “This is not what I meant when I told you to emulate me.”_

“Dunno what you think these days, old man. I thought I knew you and then you went off the deep end and got yourself exiled.”, they said, trying to shrug again, but still not very successful.

“I would be lying if I said I regretted that. It, after all, got me where I am now.”, and it seemed like Toland wanted to say more, but Leo interjected: “You mean dead? Like, dead dead? A ghost?”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, said “Remind me why I love you again.”, and sighed.

“ _Please don’t die. I love you. Please.”_

“What. You what?!”, they exclaimed, staring at Toland.

“Oh. Right. Well. Fuck.”, he said, just as eloquent as he always had been.

“You love me.”, Leo said.

“You fucking love me.”, they repeated, staring down at their lap, “Since when?”

He sat down at the foot of the bed, looking down at the ground.

Neither wanted to meet the others eyes right now.

“Remember, when you defended me in front of the consensus?”, Toland began.

And, of course, Leo remembered. They had been so afraid for him.

“I think that was when I realized what I had, what I was about to loose.”

Leo did not say anything. They couldn’t.

So, Toland continued: “I spat flowers all the way down the hellmouth. But, of course, it was too late by then.”

Leo took a moment to gather their thoughts, exhaling heavily.

_They were choking and choking but they managed to whisper: “I love you too, old man.”, just before falling unconscious again._

“Do you know.”, their voice trembled, broke, but they tried again, balling their hands into fists, “Do you know how long I’ve been in love with you? How long I’ve denied myself my feelings because I thought it’d be better for you? I vomited up a flood of flowers when you graced the solar system with your presence again.”

_The chrysanthemum buds on the roots that had taken on their skin began to bloom and for just a moment there were so many pristine blue-purple flowers before they wilted and rotted off along with the roots._

They stared Toland down, how had looked up during their tirade. Tears were streaming down Leo’s face.

“What happened after I was kicked off the cabal ship, Toland?”, they brought out between gritted teeth.

_The specter left without saying another thing, thinking his love as dead as he was._

“I admit, I might have panicked when the light vanished. I do not need it anymore, but...”, he sighed. “Anyways, I looked for you and well, found you, but you were there, dying, choking on flowers. You saw me.” He took a breath (did he even really need to breathe?) and continued: “I thought I’d loose you. I confessed then, but apparently you forgot that. You said something, too, but I couldn’t understand you, through all the flowers.”

“Makes the most sense if I said I love you too. So, here, again, just to be sure, I love you too, old man. Despite everything.”

Toland just nodded.

About five minutes later, before either of the two could get the courage to do anything, Asher Mir stomped into the room.

Toland vanished as soon as the door opened.

“Leonidas.”, Asher greeted.

“Asher.”, Leo greeted in return.

“I assume you’re going to examine me?”, Leo asked.

“We already ran all the possible tests while you were unconscious. I was instructed to talk to you.”, he answered, standing awkwardly next to the bed.

“Don’t lie to me, like you did to that warlock that was here before me.”, he warned Leo.

“How did you know?”, Leo asked.

“We have known each other for years, Leonidas. You have first-hand experience of the Taken. You know their behavior. What happened to you?”, he asked.

They sighed. There was no fooling Asher, not if he was so sure.

“I killed Oryx. You remember, right?”

Asher nodded.

“By the philosophy, the law of the Hive, I was supposed to take his place.”, Leo started to explain.

“And after Ghaul kicked me off his ship, I did. I was lucky the vacancy was still open. I took my sword and carved my way through the solar system until I stood before Ghaul and Took his stolen light.”

Asher was silent. Leo was silent.

“You are the Taken King.”, Asher finally said.

Leo nodded.

“How did you survive the Traveler waking up?”, Asher asked.

Leo blinked at Asher. “The Traveler doing what?”

“It woke up, as far as we can tell, after you disabled the shield.”, he explained.

“Oh, so that’s what happened. I do not know how I survived that. To be honest, I did think I’d die. It wouldn’t have surprised me.”

“Hm. Thank you. That is enough, I believe.”, he said, moving to the door.

“Asher.”, Leo said, and he halted for a moment, “Don’t let them imprison me.”

Asher left without answering.

 

They spent the next few days in limbo.

Nothing much happened. Neither Asher not Toland returned and nobody else showed up.

So, they spent the days exercising the power they had embraced. Apparently, there were more Taken left in the solar system than had been predicted, in nooks and crevices nobody had thought to check.

Leo found that they could command them, see through them, if they concentrated hard enough. After all, they were an extension of Leo themselves now.

They spent their days directing the Taken away from guardians, instead attacking Fallen and Cabal and Vex. There was no need to attack guardians, especially now that it was known that Leo had become the Taken King. They could have tried getting Taken to spawn here, but the proximity to the Traveler would likely make that hard. Also, they really did not want to make an enemy out of everybody in the tower.

But, of course, their actions did not go unnoticed.

A couple of days into their restructuring of the taken forces, Asher came back.

(And no, they weren’t happy about that, having been basically alone since he last was there.)

“This is your work.”, he said, after entering the room.

“Yeah. I don’t really have anything else to do, if you haven’t noticed?”, they replied and tried to lift their left hand as much as possible, to make their point.

“How did they get you off Io, anyways? I was under the impression you wanted to die there.”, Leo asked.

“I was told to either come here and help assess you or I would be refused further help with my research. A bit extreme, in my opinion. I fully intend on returning to Io once a decision about you has been made.”, he answered.

“Hm. And how’s it looking, if I may ask?”

“Moving the Taken seems to be working out in your favor.”, Asher admitted.

“Cool, cool. Why am I in a hospital room anyways? Shouldn’t I be in like, a cell?.”, they continued their questioning.

“I am under the impression that it was assumed your condition is similar to mine and it was hoped that you would be able to be released without a problem. The handcuffs were a precaution.”

“And why exactly don’t they just, y’know, release me? I’m not doing anything.”, they said.

“You are aware you said yourself that you are the Taken King.”, Asher replied.

“It’s not like I really chose to be. I was just fighting my way through a war and by the time I realized what I was doing, it was a bit too late and just embracing it seemed the smarter choice, given what I was up against.”, Leo said, not meeting Asher’s gaze.

“I see.”, he said and left Leo alone again.

 

About two days later, given how the time seemed to pass through the eyes of their Taken, Ikora Rey visited them in their little room.

(Toland had not shown up again. Leo was wondering if he was avoiding them.)

“Leonidas. Or would you prefer another name now?”, she asked, coming into the room.

“No, no, just Leonidas is fine.”, Leo said.

Ikora stepped up besides their bed, took a deep breath and said: “The Consensus has decided to let you walk free for the time being, provided you keep up with whatever you are doing with the Taken.”

Leo let a breath go that they didn’t know they had been holding.

“Thank the Traveler.”, they said, “I don’t know how much longer I could’ve stayed in this room without going mad.”

“Some argued you already are.”, Ikora said as she stepped forward to open the handcuffs.

Leo almost immediately pulled their legs and arms close to their chest and rubbed their wrists.

“Holy fuck, moving hurts.”, they said.

“I will leave you to recuperate.”, Ikora said, “Someone will be coming to pick you up.”

She had taken a step back and was already turning to the door.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. I think I can find everything I need to. Otherwise I’ll just come and pester one of you.”, Leo said.

“Do as you will.”, Ikora responded.

Leo couldn’t help but feel that they had been granted this freedom only because of the strength they had now. On the other hand, if they hadn’t made themselves the Taken King, they wouldn’t have been detained in the first place.

Ikora left without another word.

 

They spent some time just sitting there, curled up, now that they could again. But, eventually they did have to get up and continue on. With whatever they would do now. They still didn’t really know. Well, being a regular guardian was probably right out, but so was ruling their forces from the dreadnaught.

Actually getting up, the first step into their even more messed up life, turned out to be harder than they thought. They did spent several days laying in a bed, so their muscles weren’t very excited about being used again.

They were hanging on to the railing of the bed, after having tried to put more weight than currently possible on their legs, as someone knocked on the door and immediately let themselves in.

Unfortunately, Leo was too busy holding on to the bed to really turn around and see who had just entered.

They did say, though: “I told Ikora not to send anybody here.”

But, whoever it was, ignored them and instead helped them up.

When Leo was sitting up on the bed again, the stranger spoke up: “How good then, that Ikora is not the boss of me.”

And Leo had a very intense moment of recognition followed by almost instant denial.

Because, the voice of this stranger sounded exactly like Toland’s did. But, alas, that could not be because Toland was, last they had seen him, still very much a specter and by no means able to pick anyone up physically.

So. This couldn’t possibly be Toland.

Then, the stranger with Toland’s voice took off his helmet.

Apparently, he did not only have his voice, but also his face.

Granted, it was more emaciated than they remembered, a bit more gaunt, but the last time they had truly seen his face had been long before his expedition into the hellmouth.

“Excuse me for not being around these last few days, but I was kind of busy, as you can see.”, he said. Toland said. Toland, standing in front of them, as alive as a guardian could be.

“Shit.”, Leo said and dragged him down to them by his robe and kissing him.

Fucking finally.

They grabbed the back of his head and dragged him even closer and just kissed him and oh, they were so glad they did not really need to breathe.

He put his hands on their waist to steady them and deepened the kiss.

After a while, that felt like an eternity to both of them, they broke the kiss, just putting their foreheads together, looking at each other. Leo put their arms around his neck.

Belatedly, Leonidas realized that they had started crying from how happy they were, being able to hold Toland.

After noticing Leo crying, Toland pulled them closer until the two of them were hugging each other, holding the other as close as possible.

“I hope you know that I’m not letting you go again.”, Leo said.

He chuckled, “I figured, but I think between us we have all the knowledge I ever wanted.”

Leo pulled back a bit, but just to kiss him again.

**Author's Note:**

> thats it, folks!  
> glad i finished this tbh.  
> thanks so much for reading!


End file.
